Reno Cash Store Then and Now

351 N Virginia Street – Reno, Nevada

You would never know it now but the block of Virginia between Third and Fourth Streets was once a mix of homes, hotels, and small shops. Until around 1900, addresses on the west side of the street at the southwest corner of Fourth and Virginia literally began with the number 1.

A couple different homes occupied the lot at 3 Virginia Street, the last being a two-story frame dwelling with a wraparound porch and a bay window.

Adam T Rice, former chef at the Washoe Lunch Counter, opened The American Restaurant at what became 315 N Virginia in the Spring of 1901.

In 1902, grocers Robert Nelson and Ross Petersen began construction of a two-story brick building on the site of the former restaurant. This structure had two store spaces on the main floor with a large, shared warehouse at the west end toward the alley. A central staircase led to an upstairs rooming house. The south space was occupied by Nelson and Petersen’s Reno Cash Store in February of 1903.

Pictured below are Robert Nelson (behind the counter), Bert Lynn (center), and Ross Petersen (right).

The north store was occupied by California Market, a butcher shop owned by Nevada Meat Company.

J. Convey of San Francisco purchased the butcher shop that July and renamed it California Meat Market.

Convey sold the market to Pearl Upson (not Upton) and Charles Cain a month later and returned to San Francisco.

In April of 1904, California Market was purchased by the partnership of Paul Heehs, Tom Haley, and C. J. Gardner.

Heehs (left) became the market’s sole proprietor shortly after.

Heehs assumed quite a bit of debt when he bought the market and had to file for bankruptcy in January of 1906. Robert Nelson’s brother, Hans, took over operations the same month.

The People’s Hospital Association, formed in January of 1906, found temporary quarters in the second-floor rooms that year. Dr. John LaRue Robinson was the primary stockholder with an initial investment of $10,000. By this time, the block had been renumbered again with the building assigned street numbers of 351-355 N Virginia Street.

The People’s Hospital reportedly acquired Nevada’s first ambulance that October.

A permanent hospital building was secured in March of 1908 when the People’s Hospital Association purchased the Nevada Hospital at 550 N Sierra Street. At that time, the second floor of the Nelson building reverted to hotel and rooming operations.

Bill Koenig, pictured below, may have experienced a big change to his workday when the Reno Cash Store purchased a Studebaker Model 35 delivery car in June of 1913.

Nelson bought Petersen’s interest in the partnership in January of 1915, at which time he began operating the store as a sole proprietor.

After changing hands a few more times, California Market was purchased by H. S. Bruhaker in October of 1917.

It was then sold to the Imelli Meat Co. in January of 1926.

Reno Cash Store, Inc. filed for bankruptcy in September of 1928 and the store closed at that time.

It took Nelson about a year to resolve the case and he reopened the store in October of 1929.

He then closed the store in August of 1933 but retained ownership of the building.

California Market, by then more than just a meat market, took up the space in the south storefront under the management of William Schooley.

Nelson leased the north space to Nevada Distributing Company.

A new deli opened inside the market in September of 1934 after the business was sold to August Brinkman.

Nevada Distributing vacated the building in early 1936. That November, Bruno May received a business permit and package liquor license for May’s University Pharmacy at 355 N Virginia.

After Bruno’s death in 1938, his brother, Fred, operated the pharmacy until selling his interest in the Summer of 1940. The store became Sullivan Drug later that year.

Around 1943, William Pettis added another location of Pettis Pharmacy in the former Sullivan Drug space.

Robert Nelson died in March of 1949 at the age of 81. Because Marie had passed in 1929, ownership of the building was transferred to their children. California Market owner August Brinkman died in 1950, leaving partner George Jolly a sole proprietor. Dick Jolly processed deer out of the back of the building for eight cents a pound.

A small sliver of the building is shown on the right during the 1950s.

Harold Jensen was granted permits for package liquor and two slot machines at the former Pettis Pharmacy in September of 1953.

California Market closed in June of 1959. George Jolly liquidated the business but kept the lease on the space, which was later used by Welsh’s Bakery for storage.

Jensen Drug vacated their space around January of 1965 and was replaced by Ace Coin Co. that spring.

In July of 1972, it was announced that the Nelson building and its neighbors would be demolished to make way for the new Eldorado Hotel.

William Carano, Donald Carano, George Siri, Jerry Poncia, George Yori, and Richard Stringham planned to build an 11-story hotel with a casino. Jerry Poncia of Poncia and Merrill designed a structure with 282 rooms, a second level with a pool and convention space, and two levels of underground parking. Initially, the group said they would have a limited gaming floor with slots only.

H. M. Byars Construction Co. was selected to demolish the old buildings that summer. Building contractor Corrao Construction had the new hotel at its maximum height in February of 1973 with 272 guest rooms and six suites. Due to the Spanish theme and the 1970s in general, it was decorated with gold, black, and brown. The casino did pivot a bit and started with around 10 table games and a keno game in addition to the slots.

Eldorado Hotel Casino opened the evening of May 24, 1973, the day their gaming license was granted. Entertainment was provided by multilingual singer Lisa DiMilo.

In June of 1978, the company announced plans for a $10 million expansion on the west side of the hotel, which would increase the room count to approximately 430. This addition leaned heavily into the New Orleans Mardi Gras theme. In 1989, the Eldorado opened a huge expansion which covered the whole block outlined by Fourth, Sierra, Plaza, and Virginia.

In March of 1993, Eldorado requested Plaza Street be abandoned between Sierra and Virginia Streets. This would straighten out the alignment of Third Street and allow the Eldorado to expand southward into the parking lot. The request was approved that April. Construction of the addition which filled up that entire block was completed around 1996.

This is how the site of the former Reno Cash Store looks today:

I am heavily biased toward old brick buildings and against corporate looking concrete construction, especially when it looks like it’s coming off a 1980s cocaine bender. As is often the case in drinking establishments, the Eldorado looks better in the dark.

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